Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Sep. 4: Teachers are of one of the most important pillars of the society and the struggles and challenges they have faced need to be given a closer look in order to understand and appreciate their hard work and dedication.
Ekadashi Bhunia, a commerce teacher of Christian Higher Secondary School (CHSS), told Eastern Mirror that he has been teaching in Nagaland since 1998, and was one of the first commerce teachers who taught Mathematics at Lovedell Higher Secondary School (LHSS) in Zunheboto. LHSS was the first school to introduce commerce stream in Nagaland, he said. He later joined CHSS in 1999 and has been teaching there till date.
Bhunia said that he was born in a middle class family, and faced a lot of difficulties in college as his parents were not in a position to pay his fees. Luckily, he managed to find a person named Satya Jana, who let him stay with free lodging and food in return for tuition classes for Jana’s five children.
He completed his masters’ degree while staying with his uncle, Pulin Behari Bhunia, a clerk in the government hospital, who also gave him accommodation there. After completing his M. Com degree, he could not study further due to financial constraints.
He said that he chose teaching as his profession because he felt that his degree would be worthless if he couldn’t help inspire others. Since he had struggled a lot in life, he believes it is only fair that he helps aspiring students and share what he knows.
Zasekhoyi Ringa, an economics teacher at Government Higher Secondary School (GHSS) in Dimapur, has been teaching for the last 19 years. His father passed away when he was very young and had to face a lot of hardships and obstacles being raised by a single mother.
According to him, teaching is a ‘noble profession’ and he got his motivation during his college days. He said he always wanted to be a teacher and added that he has observed a changing mentality in parents and students towards government schools as even toppers and first division students are coming for admissions. He recalled that his first salary was INR 3500 as a teacher at NBCC Higher Secondary School (CHSS) in the year 2000 and stated that with that money he was ‘able to survive for a month.’
Ringa quoted a proverb which says: “A mistake of an engineer is shown in a brick wall, a mistake of a doctor is buried under the grave and a mistake of a teacher reflects the nation”, and stated that the one thing that drove him was his ‘responsibility’; that he should not fail in his duty, no matter what happens, and keep his students his priority.
Rakonizo Hriipu, a student from CHSS said that teachers are the “second parent and the backbone of our future”. “They guide us and inspires us, and play an important role in a student life,” he said.
He expressed that teachers should be “strict but loving; should understand their feelings; and they should know how to teach and interact with students. They should be able to work with different kinds of students and the relationship between a teacher and students should be perfect so that they can learn easily.”
